This we we scoot across to Ecuador because it is the next country on our inchie world tour.

I don't know very much about Ecuador, except it is located in the northwestern corner of South America and includes the Galapagos Islands, which lie about 1000 kilometres to the west of the coastline. Columbia lies to the North, with Peru bordering the East and South of this republic. The name of the country derives from it's latitudinal position straddling the Equator between two degrees North and five degrees South.

The language spoken is predominanly Spanish, although the history of the country includes many languages and cultural developments, both before and after the Inca period of settlement, the many wars, both political and religious, and other upheavals common to the development of a very diverse culture and geographic nature.I was interested to read that it is one of the worlds 17 megadiverse countries and is the very first in the world to alter it's constitution, in 2008, to include the Rights of Nature, or ecosystem rights...well done, Ecuador!

Well, the National flower of Ecuador is the rose, but I decided to use one of it's endemic plants instead. My rather limited knowledge of the history of the Rosa genus makes it's origins very widespread, I wanted to be more specific...Chuquiraga jussieui is known as the flower of the Andes, and is a very hardy tough plant, with such hardened pointed leaves, that it resists all herbivores. The only animal species that has adapted to feed on it is the tiny Oreotrochilus Chimborazo hummingbird, or Ecuadorian Hillstar.

I have been a tad distracted and preoccupied this past few days, so instead of trying to produce a recognisable image myself, I found a lovely engraved image of both the plant and the bird and decided to use that for this week. Sigh...another cheat week... but sometimes things do intervene between intent and outcome, and I am silly to fret overly about that because this is meant to be an enjoyable exercise, isn't it.

Chuquiraga jussieui

Oreotrochilus Chimborazo feeding on the nectar of the plant

Ecuador Inchie Components...

​The ancient Inca did not have a known written language but around six hundred surviving examples of knotted cotton and wool threads of different colours which indicate an intricate "language" of knots have been found in various archaeological sites.Called Quipu or Khipus, taken from the Quechua word for “knot,” they are collections of different knots held in horizontal rows are from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. They’ve long been a mystery to researchers. Do they indicate a numerical form of record keeping, or something with deeper narrative meaning. As several have been found in locations such as store rooms, one theory is that these may be a numerical record of produce or supplies...Harvard University has been developing a database called "The Khipus Database Project" in an attempt to unravel this knotty problem...Because I found this all very interesting, and something I had not heard of previously, I have used an image of an drawing of a Khipus as my mat for the inchie this week. It is a bit obscure as it forms the mat and is largely hidden, but you can still see a couple of the tasselled ends as they were drawn, hanging from a branch, or stick...

In the folder...

Close up...

I feel somewhat chirpily "grown up" this week...I have attended my SECOND, voluntary dental appointment. By voluntary, I mean a prophylactic visit, not one instigated by sheer painful necessity!I have had a real phobia about dental processes all my life, well from early childhood. In explanation, I have three older brothers who know more horror dental stories than is good for a gullible younger sister at an impressionable age to hear...well, I blame them anyway. ​It was always something I thought I would outgrow as I grew into adulthood, but no...it didn't. Anyway, I am feeling a tad pleased with myself, another small personal victory achieved. I just hope I can remember that when it is time to go again...

On the way home Tim drove me to the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, on the Domain in Hobart for a walk. We had no need to hurry home and I have been hoping to take some autumnal photographs. However, I didn't manage to get as far as the area where the deciduous trees are more plentiful, and the ones I did come across were not yet showing much colour...even Winston's Oak was still heartily green. Another trip will need to be planned for the near future, maybe up the Derwent Valley...plenty of poplars around the hopfields of Plenty and bushy Park.

Here are a couple of images from the walk, anyway. It was a lovely sunny, clear day...

The Japanese windflowers were a delight in several areas...

These common little Easter daisies lit up a shaded area...

Thanks to a busy wild duck on the lily pond, the reflections made an interesting image...my thoughts immediately went to the Wind In The Willows...

This fallen Paulownia tomentosa seed pod made a snug resting spot for a sleeping millipede..

Snake Bark Maple keys glowed lemon in the shade of the leaves...

Well, I had best be off. I need to go to the Post Office and the shop once my driver and car arrive (Tim is out, he had a dental appointment today also), and I had given him a couple of chores to do while he was out gallivanting...he can't be far away now and I had best be ready...​Bye for now,Di

An well researched inchie and what a plant that is! I have heard of the Knots but had forgotten about them so thanks for the reminder. Your diving duck is a lovely shot and I like the see pod "bedroom "!

I have to say I really love the history and detail that you went into for the inchie. I love the idea of the knots as a language. The flowers are beautiful as well. You always get so much detail, I love it!